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Notre Dame, the Limestone Phoenix  By Louise Peloquin Victor Hugo’s bestselling gothic novel Notre-Dame de Paris, published in 1831, roused public interest in the deteriorating cathedral and led to its restoration between 1844 and 1864 spearheaded by architect Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc. Just as, on November 8th, the cathedral’s 8 restored bells tore…

Crime or Insanity? – (PIP #49) By Louise Peloquin On  April 15th 2019, the New York Times featured the following headline:  “Fire Mauls Beloved Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.” 95 years earlier, Little Canada’s beloved cathedral would have suffered the same fate were it not for a young woman’s acuity and responsiveness. Here is L’Etoile’s front-page coverage…

Tuesday’s Lowell City Council was brief with the public portion lasting slightly less than an hour. (The council then went into executive session but adjourned from there, so councilors had to stay longer.) Before getting to the meeting, I want to mention the sad news that Mill No. 5, the…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. My stuffing is made. If the weather permits, we’ll be together with family for the Thanksgiving holiday. Friends and acquaintances keep reaching out, asking “what are we going to do?” They’re not referring to how best to…

Chath pierSath, a writer and artist who has been a contributor to this blog, is featured through December 21 in a current exhibition of the art gallery Niru Ratnam in London. See the project description below. Here’s a link to the website. From the website of Niru Ratnam Gallery in…

Thinking About Thanksgiving High School Football By Mike McCormick Mike McCormick of Alaska by way of Haverhill and Haverhill High School, has some observations on this year’s Haverhill High hazing incident and the subsequent cancellation of the school’s Thanksgiving Day football game against Lowell High. [This post originally appeared on this…

Thanksgiving Merriment in Lowell – (PIP #48) By Louise Peloquin      After turkey and fixings, Lowell’s French-Canadians pursued Thanksgiving festivities by singing and dancing in their social clubs. Among the traditional dances was a series of complex, rapid and rhythmical steps come from Ireland. “La gigue” became emblematic of Québec…

After a lengthy public hearing at its November 12, 2024, meeting, the Lowell City Council voted to amend Chapter 222 (“Peace and Good Order”) of the city’s Code of Ordinances by making it illegal to camp on public property. The vote was 8 to 1 in favor, with Councilor Wayne…

Living Madly: Art is Power By Emilie-Noelle Provost I’ve been thinking about art lately, not only visual art but also literature and music. These things are an important part of my life, not just because I’m a writer but because they make me feel connected to something larger than myself,…

In the Trees By Stephen O’Connor The first tree I remember climbing was the apple tree in our small backyard in the ‘Acre’ section of Lowell. There were no great trees in that yard nor on that street—no oaks or maple or pitch pine, but from the branches of that…